Circles
by Arella Hallo
Summary: I returned to the shrine after five years away to put my past to rest and say goodbye to my grandfather. That done, I can move ahead at last.


Circles

Arella Hallo

Rated: G

OOOOOO

My heart ached as I crossed the flagstone courtyard of the shire. In the corner of my eye, I saw the God Tree in flowering glory. It had been five years at least since I'd seen it in such beauty. The memories that mere thought carried with it closed my throat and made it a little hard to breathe.

"Kagome, I know your grandfather was hoping that you would bless his body before we burn him," mother said softly. She had appeared beside me like a ghost. When my eyes came to rest on her, she was older than I remembered in my mind. Her black hair was shot through with gray and shorter than it had been before. The laugh lines around her eyes were deeper and sadness seemed to weigh her entire body down as we moved.

When she stopped and looked at me, a question on her lips, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't answered yet. My hurried "of course" was louder than I'd intended. I winced slightly and hoped that she really hadn't noticed.

When her face relaxed into a slight smile, I knew she hadn't. "Good. Dinner will be ready soon. You should come inside and wash up."

"I'll be there in a bit," I said shortly and watched as she walked back into the house. When I door was shut firmly behind her, I slipped across the grounds to the well house.

A peculiar feeling crept into my body when I closed the doors behind me. It spread from my chest and made my fingers tingle. The feeling intensified when I laid my hand on the top of the well. The cover had been repaired after my explosive reentrance from the past the final time. The new wood didn't really match the aged, oxidized box that it sat on top of.

Five years before, I'd crossed from the past the final time. I'd been fifteen. I'd been too old in my own mind when I returned to remain at the shrine and attend my old school. So I'd gone away to the northern part of Japan where some of mother's family lived. In the winter, the snow often reached the eves of the house and locked us inside for days at a time, but I'd enjoyed the peace it offered after a year that had been filled with such turmoil.

Now Grandfather was dead and I had returned. I'd owed it to the old man. He had, after all, done his best to provide excuse after excuse for my school absences. He had loved and cared for me, too, and tried to protect me as best he could. He had been a good man. I owed him so much more than the mere blessing of his body.

Drawing myself back to the present, I slid the bolt from across the top of the well. The bolt held it closed as if something was going to craw out. Then, as if caught in a memory, I threw the top off and stared into the depths.

The bones of Lady Centipede were still down there, somewhere, buried beneath years upon years of dirt and decay. As I watched, I felt my body moving, climbing onto the edge. Then I took that final step and dropped the fifteen feet to the bottom of the well and slammed into the dirt.

My feet stung with the impact and my elbows hurt were they had banged the side of the well on my way down. I hadn't even tried after I'd returned the last time. I wouldn't have been able to deal with it if the answer was, indeed, no. But, now, I didn't mind so much. Something inside of me that had been whispering to me fell silent and, as I climbed back out, I was at peace at last.

O

The scent of seared flesh burnt my nose and tempted me to sneeze, but I didn't and effort made my eyes water. The pyre that contained my grandfather had been going for maybe a half hour, maybe longer. As his body burned, I prayed him into the spirit world. Hopefully, carried on my spiritual power, he would find a peaceful rest.

Souta had gone to back into the house not long after all the wood had caught. I suspected that he hadn't wanted Mother and me to see his tears. We all mourned in our own way. Mother herself was in the kitchen, cleaning everything that carried even a fingerprint. I suspected the entire house would smell like bleach by morning. She hadn't even come out to see him before the ceremony began.

So I stood alone bellow the God Tree and said goodbye to the only man who had never let me down, who'd never broken my heart.

I should have expected Koenma's arrival, but he caught me off guard when he appeared on the other side of the fire from me in his teenaged form. "You can stop praying. His soul reached my office ten minutes ago. Your power gave him an express ticket to the front of the line. And, after all his hard work in life, there's nothing I could do but send him to paradise," he chided, but I knew he was sad, also.

I let my hands drop to my sides, the rosary that had once hung around Inuyasha's neck clutched in my left fist. I'd found that my prayers had more power when I was holding it. It helped focus them a little more when I needed it.

"What are you doing here?" I asked softly. I knew he could hear me over the roar of the fire. He was the son of a god, after all.

"To see how you are. We haven't talked in a while. I was wondering what your plans are."

"Why do you think I would have any plans, Koenma?"

"We've been keeping an eye on you. You've had a calculating air since you returned here."

"I'm going to the demon world for a while. Shippou and his wife are having a new litter and would like some help."

"Is that the wisest course? You do, after all, carry…"

"I know what I carry, and I am perfectly capable of carrying it through the demon world undetected."

"I only ask because the new king of the Demon World does live in close proximity to your adoptive son."

"Do you have a point?"

"I haven't been in touch with Yusuke in years. I don't know what he's going to do if he catches scent of the Jewel of the Four Souls so close to him. Once, I would have said he'd ignore it. But now…I just don't know."

"I'll be fine. You shouldn't worry about me. I have more than enough power to dissuade even the most persistent of demons. Besides, they'd have to notice me first."

"I wanted you to be my Spirit Detective after Yusuke quit, you know. I came to ask you the day you returned from the past for the last time, but I couldn't when I saw what a mess you were."

"I would have said no. I'm not a fighter, Koenma. I'm barely a priestess most days."

"I know. But I think you do yourself a disservice. People have heard of you in all three realms. How could they not have when some of your nightmares shift the spiritual balance of power in the world? You need to be careful. Caution won't do you a disservice, you know."

"I'll be fine. I know." I offered him a faint smile. "What did my grandfather look like when he was younger?"

"Ah…" He smiled in return and plucked an ember from the base of the fire. He stared into it for a moment before he tossed it across to me. I caught it and it was cool, as if he had plucked it from the ground.

When I looked inside it, I saw a handsome, laughing young priest, and my heart felt a little lighter. He had lived a good life and would live well in death.

O

"Kagome, I wish you wouldn't wander around outside alone," Shippou said softly as I slipped back into his den. It was a cave, but comfortable and well sheltered from the weather by a switch-back entrance.

His wife lay on a bed of skins and feathers at the back, heavy with babies. Her name was Yue. Her skin and eyes were as pale as the moon. She was blind. She was the runt of her own litter, but strong enough to survive when the others did not. In the two-hundred years she and Shippou had been together, she had whelped many strong demon pups that had gone off to make their own families. She was good and fierce mother. Why they had wanted help with this newest set escaped me, but I strongly suspected Shippou had missed me.

"I'm more than capable of taking care of myself, thank you," I teased and set my bag on the ground near my own bed. I'd been to the near by hot springs for a bath. "And you need to be here with Yue. There's no one else to go with me, so don't argue."

He whined a little and frowned even more deeply at me. "There are just too many demons in this area for me to feel comfortable with you wandering around on your own. And no one knows when King Yusuke goes hunting, but we know he does because strong and deadly demons keep disappearing. Overnight, sometimes."

"Really, I'm sure he won't cause me any trouble. No one even knows there's a human in the demon world except for the two of you. I passed through the barrier like silk slips through water and I arrived on your doorstep in the middle of the day. Stop worrying."

"Kagome…" he began, but Yue whined a little and shifted in her sleep. His attention immediately snapped to her. I took the opportunity to fall onto my bed and drift into sleep, successfully ending the conversation.

O

"You're not a demon." The voice was low, almost a growl. I jumped and looked around the hot spring, but the foliage and steam were too thick for my human eyes to penetrate.

"No, I'm not," I said slowly, still peering around, attempting to discern where voice was coming from.

"What are you doing here, then?"

"I'm the guest of two fox demons who live near here."

"They were foolish to let you outside of their den unattended."

"I'm quite capable of handling trouble on my own, thank you," I said sourly. He was to my right, just on the other side of a group of ferns.

"You're not human." He sounded surprised now.

"No."

"Then what are you?"

"I don't have to tell you," I snapped, glaring into the ferns.

"When the king of demons asks a question, most scramble to answer him," he growled in my left ear, successfully scaring me to my feet.

"Jerk! Sit!" I snapped, and then I slapped my hand over my mouth. This wasn't Inuyasha I was dealing with.

He had thick, wild, long hair that was dark brown. On his exposed, tanned skin, there were the purple markings of a powerful demon lord. A powerful demon King.

He was crouched on the balls of his feet, completely at ease. His black eyes caught my every movement, even the pulse of my blood thrumming in my neck. He stood slowly, easily. He knew he was in complete control. He had the power. He was the predator.

Without even thinking, I threw up a spiritual barrier between us of glowing pink energy. The Jewel of the Four Souls was contributing to my effort now. This wasn't a good sign. Without even batting an eyelash, he passed through it and came to a stop barely a foot away from me.

"So. You're a priestess. I'm impressed that I hadn't noticed you here before. You're incredibly close to my castle."

"I forgot you were once human. You have spirit energy too," I said softly, embarrassed by my lapse in judgment. I had no power over this demon. Something inside of me was screaming 'Trouble!' but I couldn't seem to make my body react in any way.

"Right you are. Now, back to why I hadn't noticed you until I heard you in the spring."

"That's not something you need to know. Really, I'm sorry, I'll go back to human world immediately," I said and turned to go, but he grabbed my arm and prevented me from merging with the barrier in that empty virtual space it existed in.

"You created the walls between the worlds. I can taste it on you like it's burning in the air. How can that possibly be…" He frowned deeply, thinking hard. His eyes were inside and his grip tightened as the pieces came together one by one. "Not long ago, a story teller came to my castle and wove a dream for us of a time when demons and humans existed in one world and before the spirit realm had assumed so much responsibility. He told me of a girl who said she'd traveled through time and broke the curse a half demon had maintained over all of Japan for half a century. Then, when she went back, all the demons were locked away here." He motioned to the wild lands around us. His eyes pierced my very soul as he looked at me.

"I didn't know I was a legend," I said softly, fixing my own eyes on the ground, away from his intense gaze.

"You are a half dream, sometimes a curse. You have more power in you than I'd expected." He let go of me and we stood there, equals for a moment before his power overwhelmed my own and I almost staggered beneath the weight of it. Slowly, inch by inch, I pushed it off until it no longer tried to press me into the ground.

"You'd better go back to the human world. Humans are the next meal here, but priestesses are favorite playthings," he said suddenly. When I looked up at him again, he was frowning into the surrounding woods.

"Kagome," I said suddenly, extending my hand to him.

"Yusuke." He took it and his eyes found mine again. He used my hand to pull me foreword a small amount as he leaned in and brushed his lips across mine. The double sensation of his warm, callused hand in my softer one, and his lips on mine like a butterfly's caress sent sensation roaring through my body. When he released me, it subsided, but continued to smolder low in my abdomen, occasionally shooting into the rest of my body to remind me it was still alive, just waiting for a more opportune moment to truly come back.

Before it could, I took a step back and fell through the barrier between the human and demon world.

The wind swirled around me on the flagstones of the shrine. In the corner of my eye, I could see the God Tree. It was still in full bloom.

O

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